WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Hi, a very usefull little program, thanks. I seem to have a problem with it though. It loads into windows media player, when first installed, as a background plug in and works great BUT when I close media player and reopen it has gone, no where to be found, and I have to install it again each time I use media player.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Are you running a 64-bit version of Windows? These installations contain a 32-bit *and* a 64-bit version of WMP. WMPCDText is only compatible with the 32-bit WMP and it doesn't show up in the 64-bit one. The WMPCDText installer will always launch the 32-bit version when "Run Windows Media Player now" is checked, so that could explain why you only see the plug-in on first launch, if you otherwise always run the 64-bit version. This can be verified with Task Manager: look for wmplayer.exe in the Processes tab, it will have *32 next to it when it's the 32-bit version.

The solution is to make sure that you always run the 32-bit WMP. Usually, this means that you will have to change the target of each shortcut to WMP to the following:

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Are you running a 64-bit version of Windows? These installations contain a 32-bit *and* a 64-bit version of WMP. WMPCDText is only compatible with the 32-bit WMP and it doesn't show up in the 64-bit one. The WMPCDText installer will always launch the 32-bit version when "Run Windows Media Player now" is checked, so that could explain why you only see the plug-in on first launch, if you otherwise always run the 64-bit version. This can be verified with Task Manager: look for wmplayer.exe in the Processes tab, it will have *32 next to it when it's the 32-bit version.

The solution is to make sure that you always run the 32-bit WMP. Usually, this means that you will have to change the target of each shortcut to WMP to the following:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe

Please let me know if that helps.

Hi, you are correct. I have changed to 32 bit and all is fine. Seems like the right time to ask if a 64 bit version is coming.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

I have released WMPCDText, a Windows Media Player plug-in that finally adds support for CD-Text to WMP.

There is an option to automatically read CD-Text from unknown CD's. Alternatively, you can also right-click on a CD-track in the Now Playing-pane while the CD is playing, and click "Read CD-Text". There are some other options too, those can be changed in the plug-in's settings dialog.

Update Sept 1, 2007: I have updated WMPCDText with a fix for crashes that might occur in wmpvis.dll when a visualization is enabled in WMP. Please re-download and reinstall WMPCDText if WMP crashes when you advance to the next track, and these crashes started happening after installing WMPCDText.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Excellent application! Is there a way to programmatically use the WMPCDtext to load CDtext from a Visual C++ application? I need to get access but can't find an ActiveX or other library to do this easily. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

No, it's not possible to use WMPCDText from any programming language, because it doesn't expose an API to use (that would be out of the scope of the plug-in anyway).

WMPCDText is written in Delphi, and I have personally used the FreeBurner library to read CD-Text. You might be able to port that library to C++. Another option is to look for a C++ SCSI library online, or to use the CD-Text routines in CDex's source code.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

I am using Win 7 Professional and Windows Media Player 12 installed by HP. I installed WMPCDText v1.2 and it doesn't seem to work. I have checked and the plug-in is active. No text shows up on my Marantz CD5004 which is definately CD text compatible. Also WMP12 stops functioning and has to be restarted. When I restart it, WMP12 has inactivated WMPCDText. It really would be nice to be able to have the title information written to my CDs. What information do you require to troubleshoot this? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Indeed, WMPCDText will only add support for reading CD-Text, not writing. If you're looking for a WMP plug-in that will add CD-Text write support, then I'm afraid that such a thing doesn't exist. You will have to use another application for burning CDs, like Burrrn or CDBurnerXP (both freeware), or Nero/Roxio software.

I'm still bothered by the fact that WMP stops functioning, if this is caused by WMPCDText then I would like to have this fixed. When exactly is this happening? Does it still occur if you uncheck Automatically try to read CD-Text from unknown CDs in WMPCDText's options?

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

I just installed WMPCDText on my Win7 Pro machine with WMP 12. I love the tool. MS should have built this in WMP. Thanks for providing a great solution.

I have a "curious behavior" question. I don't know if this is related to WMPCDText or WMP itself. When I put in a CD that has CD-Text onboard and launch WMP, the CD-Text comes up as it should. However, the info then seems to be cached such that it can not be updated. As a case example, I created a custom music mix using ImgBurn. I created the CUE file, burned the disc, then put it back in the drive and launched WMP. The text came up as it should but I noticed some typos I made. So I corrected the CUE file and re-burned the CD. When I put the CD back in the drive, the old, original CD-Text came up - not the corrected version. I verified I corrected the text by putting the CD in my vehicle and in my home audio system. I can't seem to find where I can refresh the CD-Text read-in. Do you have any ideas?

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

It's actually WMP that keeps a cache of all the album info. This is mainly so that it doesn't have to look up each CD in the online database again, but as a side effect, the album info added by WMPCDText gets cached too.

Also, WMPCDText will automatically read the CD-Text of unknown CDs only. To make it read the CD-Text of a CD again, right-click on a track in Now Playing mode while the CD is playing, and select Read CD-Text.

To clear the album info cache for all CDs, go to WMP's Options - Privacy, and click Clear caches.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

WOW. This is one of those features that I've always thought WMP should have, but I never thought to look for a plug in that would achieve the same result. I'm so glad that I stumbled across this thread, and after using it for a while, it's been working flawlessly for me. I just wanted to say thanks for writing and sharing this with everyone. btw: I'm using WMP 11 on XP sp2.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

I wasn't sure if issues using WMPCDText were put by just replying to this post or not. So, if this belongs somewhere else, sorry.

I've tried this plugin on 2 different computers and have gotten the same results. When the plugin tries to automatically get CD Text for Track names, it returns garbage data for the Track name. However, if I use the right click context menu to Read CD Text manually, the Track names then are read in with their proper CD Text.

The other thing I've come across is even when I uncheck the option to convert from uppercase to lowercase, some conversion still occurs. For instance, in my CD Text test CD, I have the text CD Text Test Disc as part of some of the CD Text. When the plugin reads the CD Text in, it returns Cd Text Test Disc instead of CD Text Test Disc.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

First, which version of WMP and Windows are you using? Are you using the latest version of WMPCDText, 1.2?

Regarding the first issue, would it be possible to post a screen shot of the garbage track names? You can attach the screen shot to your reply. Also, do you get the same issue if you let CDex read the CD-Text?

About your second issue, does the option stay unchecked in WMPCDText's settings? Even with the option checked, WMPCDText will only convert if the original text is in all caps. I suggest that you check if the CD-Text isn't in all caps after all, by also using CDex.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

First, which version of WMP and Windows are you using? Are you using the latest version of WMPCDText, 1.2?

WMP 12.0.7601.175141 and the latest version of WMPCDText, 1.2.

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Regarding the first issue, would it be possible to post a screen shot of the garbage track names? You can attach the screen shot to your reply.

Unfortunately, I now cannot get the issue to repeat. I had had the problem where if I used Read CD Text, I'd get garbage, then the right text, then garbage text, alternately. It was reproducable. Now, I can't reproduce it. It was a long string of apparently random text sometimes mixed in with part of the CD Text. I can't post screenshot, but, I can post the file name from a rip that was being returned as I did copy and paste those into a post on a different forum.

Let me see. I've never heard of this app before. I get the correct CD Text in CDex, even with the correct capitalization of CD.

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About your second issue, does the option stay unchecked in WMPCDText's settings? Even with the option checked, WMPCDText will only convert if the original text is in all caps. I suggest that you check if the CD-Text isn't in all caps after all, by also using CDex.

I see, I misunderstood the nature of the function. It only works on ALL caps text, not a mixture. Actually, it does say that in the settings, doesn't it? I just checked it DOES say that! Sorry.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

Unfortunately, I now cannot get the issue to repeat. I had had the problem where if I used Read CD Text, I'd get garbage, then the right text, then garbage text, alternately. It was reproducable. Now, I can't reproduce it. It was a long string of apparently random text sometimes mixed in with part of the CD Text. I can't post screenshot, but, I can post the file name from a rip that was being returned as I did copy and paste those into a post on a different forum.

I'll do some more tests on my Windows 7 system, but I've never seen this issue on my own systems so I probably won't be able to reproduce it myself either. And without a way to reproduce, I'm afraid that it will be near impossible to debug this.

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I see, I misunderstood the nature of the function. It only works on ALL caps text, not a mixture. Actually, it does say that in the settings, doesn't it? I just checked it DOES say that! Sorry.

So am I right to assume that this is cleared up now? Note that WMPCDText will automatically read the CD-Text only once, after that the CD-Text is cached in WMP's database. However, you can still force it to read CD-Text again by using the Read CD-Text context menu option.

WMPCDText - CD-Text plug-in for Windows Media Player

I see, I misunderstood the nature of the function. It only works on ALL caps text, not a mixture. Actually, it does say that in the settings, doesn't it? I just checked it DOES say that! Sorry.

So am I right to assume that this is cleared up now? Note that WMPCDText will automatically read the CD-Text only once, after that the CD-Text is cached in WMP's database. However, you can still force it to read CD-Text again by using the Read CD-Text context menu option.

Well, it is returning "Cd Text" instead of "CD Text" at the start of the Track name. If that's an issue or not. I would think it is because it's not returning the exact CD Text like Winamp does.